Federal File

On the Case

Worried about pesticides on school grounds, or that school officials
may be pressuring some parents to administer psychotropic drugs to
their children?

Or maybe you just think the Postal Service really needs a
commemorative stamp promoting school safety.

Well, rest easy. Someone in Congress is working on it.

Since the 108th Congress began in January, lawmakers have introduced
scores of education-related bills. Submitting bills is a popular if
sometimes futile exercise on Capitol Hill. Many bills doubtless are
destined for the dustbin without so much as a committee hearing.

Of course, the amount of attention lawmakers get for their bills has
a lot to do with their status within Congress and their political
affiliations. In other words, it's probably not the best time for a
freshman House Democrat to get a bill enacted, since Republicans
control both chambers, and the White House.

A few rookies, however, may have better luck. When Sen. Lamar
Alexander, R-Tenn., the former secretary of education, recently
announced the proposed American History and Civics Education Act, he
even managed to win a favorable statement on it from the department he
once ran. (Sen. Alexander isn't exactly the first member to favor that
cause, however. The agency already funds two civics programs and grants
for teaching "traditional" American history.)

Meanwhile, to drum up support for the proposal called the Child
Medication Safety Act, Reps. Max Burns and Johnny Isakson, both
Republicans from Georgia, sent out a "Dear Colleague" letter this month
to fellow representatives. The bill calls on states to establish
policies prohibiting school personnel from forcing parents to give
their children behavior-altering drugs.

Plenty of bills target the tax code, whether to expand school
choice, underwrite school modernization, or help teachers pay for their
education.

Rep. David Vitter, R-La., has another concern with his recent bill
called the School Bus Driver Tax Fairness Act of 2003. It's designed to
allow bus drivers who own their vehicles to deduct certain expenses.
The bill is refreshingly short, just a few sentences adding a new
subparagraph to paragraph (2) of section 62 (a) of the Internal Revenue
Code of 1986.